HeyMostly I feel sad because, even though there are many attempts started at remakes, AGDI at least finished them! That shows not only the talent, but also dedication. If only "real" developers still had that state of mind, the realm of adventure games wouldn't be in this sorry state.While I'm sad to hear that the talented people of AGDI will no longer bring back enhanced versions of childhood memories, I think it's only natural they are now using their talents in other ways. They have done great jobs in the past and I'm sure they'll do even better in the future.They should concentrate on more commercial games. Three remakes of that caliber are enough. Seriously, especially with QFG 2 taking over 7 years (the single most ambitious project I've ever seen thus far!), I think they'd want to lay the remakes to rest.

Thanks, bluueyee. I think when a group becomes mired in remaking old games for too long, they fall into a perpetual timewarp where it's no longer possible to move forward. When we first released the King's Quest 1 and 2 remakes we had mainstream magazines and websites covering us, our site was slashdotted, and these forums had so much traffic on a daily basis that it was an overwhelming task monitoring them every day, while simultaneously working on the games. We were one of the first groups to start remaking classic adventure games. Our concept was fresh, new, and original and people were excited about it.

These days however, most sites don't seem to be as interested in fan remakes (regardless of their level of quality). AdventureGamers.com didn't want to mention the Quest for Glory II remake on the front page of their site (it was only mentioned in the obscure underground section) and I don't think JustAdventure.com reviewed or featured the game at all. Both sites were pretty adamant supporters of our projects in the early days.

But it's obvious why there has been such a shift in their stance -- new commercial adventure games struggle to be noticed and giving the same level of exposure to free fangames re-enforces that faulty logic "why pay for an Adventure Game when there are so many high-quality ones I can download for free?". But it's not just the news outlets snubbing fangames. Fans themselves don't seem as willing to stick around as they used to be. People who consist of our fanbase grow older as time marches forward, and they move onto other things. The very nature of remakes limits the fanbase mainly to the people who grew up playing these Sierra games. Younger people, for the most part, have never been exposed to the classics, having grown up in the 3D era. This means that the pool of fresh fans that can be drawn to remakes is severely limited. For example, this forum used to consist of a high volume of regular posters on a daily basis. Now that number is down to perhaps only 15 people who post sporadically. Even new remakes like the QFG2 remake only provide a temporary boost in forum activity which dies off after several months. To keep forums active, a developer really needs to be bringing in fresh content regularly, and this really cannot be done on a budgetless project where the games take multiple years to finish, and are stymied by the fact that many popular sites will no longer provide publicity for free games. In order to experience continued success, groups like AGDI must evolve.

The fact of the matter is that free fangames have run their course. They're not financially viable, they're not as popular as they once were, and they do, in fact, harm the commercial prospects of the genre. Of course, we love remaking these Sierra games and if Activision wanted to permit us to develop them commercially, we'd be up for that. Sadly, they haven't called us yet. If you want to inform Activision that they should, by all means, feel free... but don't hold your breath.

Ultimately, commercial games are the only way we can maintain our status as an adventure game developer who stays on top of their craft. Budgeted projects will mean that our games get finished faster and receive more publicity. A constant stream of new fans will also keep the community alive with fresh discussion topics.

But there's no need for sadness, because we're not going anywhere. This is just an extension of what we've always been doing. We'll create new stories and tales in the same classic style -- just without being bound by another company's Intellectual Property. It's crummy spending large portions of time creating such elaborate games where expectations are so high, under conditions where success is stifled, denied, and prohibited by the powers that be. Making original games can only provide us with the kind of freedom we haven't experienced before. When one door closes, another opens, so to speak.

Fans themselves don't seem as willing to stick around as they used to be. People who consist of our fanbase grow older as time marches forward, and they move onto other things. The very nature of remakes limits the fanbase mainly to the people who grew up playing these Sierra games. Younger people, for the most part, have never been exposed to the classics, having grown up in the 3D era. This means that the pool of fresh fans that can be drawn to remakes is severely limited. For example, this forum used to consist of a high volume of regular posters on a daily basis. Now that number is down to perhaps only 15 people who post sporadically. Even new remakes like the QFG2 remake only provide a temporary boost in forum activity which dies off after several months. To keep forums active, a developer really needs to be bringing in fresh content regularly, and this really cannot be done on a budgetless project where the games take multiple years to finish, and are stymied by the fact that many popular sites will no longer provide publicity for free games. In order to experience continued success, groups like AGDI must evolve.

Don't forget that it's a circle as well; fans of the classics who are growing older, can feel alienated from modern computer gaming because everything that made them interested in gaming in the first place (like classic adventures) is now gone. The less they are confronted with games they find interesting, the less they are likely to be interested in computer games altogether.

At least it's what I experienced the last two years....it made me return here. It feels like I'm clinging to remnants of what I thought was glorious in computer gaming, and it makes me feel sad.

_________________-------Denying people their rights because the majority votes for it is not democracy.

Mostly I feel sad because, even though there are many attempts started at remakes, AGDI at least finished them!

Infamous Adventures finished the remake of King's Quest 3 and are well on their way to releasing Space Quest II VGA very soon and LucasFan Games finished their remake of Maniac Mansion (MM Deluxe) so no it isn't just AGDI who at least finish them. Other teams are dedicated as well.

I wouldn't put much thought into what bluueyee says. On closer inspection, he appears to be a spammer who tailors his messages to whatever community he's posting on. Notice that one excerpt from his speech is ripped from Paladinlover's post in this thread:

Still don't really understand what this dummy's purpose is, since he's wasting his time by not posting any URLS and just plain text in his signature. Spam without a link is useless!

Perhaps he intends to post a bunch of meaningless posts at first, and wait for them to sink down a bit on the forum. Then he'll come back at some later point (when he thinks nobody will read his posts anymore) and change his signature to a spam URL that will be indexed by the search engines.

Well, allow me to nip this one in the bud and get rid of this scum before he has the chance. Thanks ever so much for the comments bluueyee, but you're out of here.

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